By Mary Olsen
THATCHER, Ariz. – EAC’s Discovery Park Campus hosted its annual Docent Appreciation Dinner last month to honor the community volunteers, or “docents,” who shared educational outreach visits to the telescopes at the Mt. Graham International Observatory (MGIO) this past year.
The dinner celebrated the dedicated service of these 15 volunteers, who drove 171 visitors from around the world on 18 guided tours of each of the world-leading telescopes on top of Mount Graham. Special recognition was given to Bob Hiatt, operator of the 20-inch Tinsley Telescope in the Gov Aker Observatory at Discovery Park, for his dedicated service in sharing the night sky with the community.
Following the dinner and a presentation of certificates of appreciation, the attendees enjoyed talks from three administrators and operators of world-leading telescopes.
Joannah Hinz, deputy director of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT), shared a presentation on new equipment on the world’s largest telescope. She highlighted the “iLocator,” a next-generation spectrograph capable of capturing extreme detail. The “iLocator” was able to display details of volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon, Io, that have never been seen before.
Alyson Ford, associate director of the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory and manager of theradio telescopes, discussed efforts to link radio telescopes via antennas to better image black holes in galaxies. She also highlighted how the Submillimeter Radio Telescope (SMT) at Mount Graham International Observatory (MGIO) has played an integral part in the Event Horizon Telescope – an association of radio telescopes throughout the world that have been able to record the first-ever images of Sagittarius A, the black hole that powers our Milky Way Galaxy, and of other black holes in Galaxy M87.
The Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) was represented by its director, Father Pavel Gabor, S.J.. Father Gabor announced the installation of the new “DON” system, a revolutionary automated control system that allows astronomers to operate the telescope and work remotely from locations around the world instead of traveling to the observatory.
Father Chris Corbally, S.J., former director of the VATT, gifted each of the EAC Discovery Park docents the Vatican Observatory’s annual Astrophoto Calendar, filled with photographs taken by some of the leading astrophotographers in the world.
The educational visits to the telescopes at the Mt. Graham International Observatory will resume in May 2025 and continue through October, depending on weather and road conditions. For more information, go to the Eastern Arizona College website at EAC.edu. Click on “GET TICKETS” and scroll to “Mt. Graham International Observatory Tours” for more information. The 2025 tour dates will be available for reservations online in January.
EAC Discovery Park will be offering a one-credit class, AST-129, in May 2025 for all community members interested in serving as volunteer docents for the 2025 MGIO tours. For more information about EAC Discovery Park or the MGIO tours, call 928-428-6260 or email discoverypark@eac.edu.
